Tuesday, June 1, 2010

She could never have known

When we went to Redmond to visit my sister, we stayed at a hotel. A hotel with a pool, of course!While the kids were swimming and Grammy was on lifeguard duty, I went up to our room to get out the clothes the girls would be dressing into after swimming.

I poked my head back into the pool area and asked Yolanta, “What are you wearing today?”She replied, “My blue shirt, the sparkly one!”

As I walked down the hallway, I reflected on all the changes this girl has been through. For the first four years of her life she lived with biological family; father, sisters, brothers, aunts, grandparents. These were all in her small villiage. Then for two years she lived in the orphanage. Then, for two years now, she has lived with us, her adopted family in the United States.

The things this girl could never have known.

-She could never have known that she would be swimming in a chlorinated swimming pool in a hotel.

-She could never have known that she would have choices of things to wear, clothes that fit her perfectly, clothes with sparkles.

-She could never have known that she’d be speaking English instead of Creole. And saying words like “…the sparkly one.”

-She could never have known that she would be surrounded by a white family instead of a black community of caregivers and other orphans.

-She could never have known she’d be living on the West Coast of America instead of central Haiti.

-She could never have known she’d be eating a different kind of food every day instead of beans and rice every day.

-She could never have known, none of us could ever have known, that an earthquake would turn Haiti upside down, and leave us with questions about the survival of her biological family.

So many changes…and these are only a tip of the mountain of changes in her life.

(the sparkly blue shirt)

The changes in her life are good and she will be forever unconditionally loved.She is on a path of health.A path of success.A path marked for loving God.

Some of the changes in her life are sad and leave her feeling confused about her thoughts toward her home country. A longing to be there yet a relief she’s not.

There are changes every day. And not just for her, but for all of us in our family.Good changes.I love the changes she has brought to my family because I love her.-She could never have known 2 years ago, how much she is loved by me.

7 comments:

Good reflection. For me it’s the contrast. Swimming in a pool, when before, water was to be hoarded. Or eating food that didn't contain dirt as an ingredient. Or that dogs were pets and not wild animals. You two have done a great thing.